Author's webpage: http://www.zentastic.com/blog/modcon/

First printing, March 2002. 2,500 copies. (BMEbooks, Canada) Second printing, August 2008. (Lulu.com, United States)

Text and photos © 1996 - 2002, 2008 Shannon Larratt

ModCon is an annual convention – or as Shawn Porter calls it, “outing” – that I hosted in 1999, 2000, and 2001. ModCon is a heavy body modification convention. It’s not a tat- too convention. It’s not a piercing convention. It’s an invite-only party for those actively involved in making significant changes to their own body or to the bodies of others. Most of the photos in this book were taken over the combined eight days that ModCon has pub- licly surfaced (the remainder are from my personal archives).
ese events and the photos that document them only scrape the very surface of this im- mense subculture. All over the world people are secretly making radical changes to their bodies. All over the world secret enclaves of surgeons and pseudo-surgeons work to fulfill people’s dreams in basement operating rooms. is is not a phenomenon limited to punk kids or degenerates either – it’s fully entrenched in every walk of life. Many of the people attending ModCon work for – and in several cases control – Fortune 500 companies. Many are highly qualified scientists and engineers. ere were botanists, writers, performance artists, pilots, sailors, dozens of small business owners, and even a professional yo-yo mas- ter. All unique, and all exceptional.